Punxsutawney is a small town in the Pennsylvania Wilds, famous nationwide for the nation's most important animal, Punxatawney Phil, the groundhog of Groundhog Day fame, who determines for the nation whether summer will come sooner or later. Upon popping out of bed on the second of February, if he sees his shadow and returns to the security of his hole in fright, then the U.S. can be assured that it will be in for a cold, long, rainy spring!

Contents

Get in

Punxatawney is really in the middle of nowhere—about two hours west of State College, a little less than two hours northeast of Pittsburgh, and an hour and a half northwest of Altoona. It's right off I-80—take exit 101 to PA-255 S, then turn left on Brady St/US-119, which will take you right to the center of town.

From Pittsburgh you'll have a scenic drive up PA-28 to Kittanning, where you'll need to connect to PA-85 east, then eventually turn left on PA-210, which will finally take you to a left on US-119.

From Altoona/I-99, just follow PA-36 straight to the center of town.

Talk

Time to brush up on your Pennsylvania German! Only Pennsylvania Germans could be weird enough to found this holiday, and the entire ceremony takes place in the language.

See

Do

Groundhog Day, [1]. 2 Feb 2010 3AM-2PM. Virtually the only day of the year when Punxatawney sees any visitors, Groundhog Day sees the local population rise from about 6,000 to 40,000.